House Republican Technology Agenda Focuses on Security, Jobs

(Adds airwaves allocation and patent-law modernization starting in third paragraph.)

June 2 (Bloomberg) -- House Republicans unveiled a technology agenda focused on protecting the nation from cyber attacks and creating jobs by passing pending trade agreements, updating the tax code and fixing a broken immigration system.

“The technology sector is on the front line of our country’s efforts to create new jobs, and they are concerned about the policies they are seeing coming out of Washington,” House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said as the agenda was announced at a news conference in Washington today.

The House Republican Technology Working Group is also focusing on increasing the amount of airwaves available for consumers and public safety groups, and protecting intellectual property by modernizing patent laws.

The Senate Commerce Committee today set a June 8 vote for a bill that would authorize incentive auctions of TV spectrum. The Obama administration backs the auctions, which it says could bring in more than $27 billion in the next 10 years. The auctions require legislative approval.

“Freeing up spectrum for new wireless services and technologies will spur innovation and reduce the federal deficit by billions of dollars,” said Dean Garfield, chief executive officer of the Information Technology Industry Council, a Washington-based industry association.

“The right people are at the table with the right ideas,” and "the American people will reward’’ members of Congress who vote for the policy ideas, which will create jobs, Garfield said in a statement.